Prof. Mazrui must have called Prof Ochiengs bluff
Time for Mazrui to think of coming back to work in his motherland
The one Kenyan thinker who has never inspired me is Professor Ali Mazrui. Let me however state right away that I have completely nothing against him, as a person. True, he has published immensely. I cannot claim to have read even half of what he has written. What puzzles me, however, is that I cannot remember a single important thing from his material.
I know he will respond by claiming that it is not his fault. If I am too dense to understand his writing then what has that got to do with him?
But apparently his American hosts also have a problem with him. Despite his many lectures and literature in the United States they do not seem to understand what he says, or wants. Are they also as dense as I am? What exactly has professor Mazrui been trotting around the world telling his listeners?
Late last August the itinerant Kenyan professor was detained at the Miami International Airport, in the United States, for more than six hours, as he jetted into his adopted homeland from Trinidad. And why? " Because of a breakdown in communication" between him and the US immigration and customs officials. The officials questioned Mazrui separately, to explain, among other things, his Islamic views. Their questions included: " What is Jihad? " Do you believe in it? "
Then they wanted to know what sect of Islam he believed in. When he told them Sunni, they asked why he was not Shia. According to Mazrui "That was definitely a first. That is like asking a Catholic why he isn't a Protestant." They then asked him whether he had met with a radical Islamist leader in Trinidad. He told them no, but added it was his business to know about Muslims because that is what he taught.
Professor Mazrui has lived and worked in the United States since early nineteen seventies, when he defected from Uganda due to Presidents Idi Amin's murderous brutality. Aged seventy, and professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton, Mazrui is also the Albert Schweitzer Professor in humanities, Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at SUNY- Binghamton, as well as Professor at Cornell University.
With that kind of Vitae, and given that America would stock special data on such an important luminary, was it a mistake that the American Immigration and Customs officers pounced on him on what appears to be minor details?
After this interrogation the officials apologised for keeping him so long, and gave him 25 dollars for dinner, paid for a hotel room and booked him on a flight the next morning.
But what was Ali thinking about that night? That his detention was a mistake? That these were ignorant officials? Are his American hosts already bored with him? Has he misused the wide American democratic space by discussing Western heresies? Or is America changing into a vast anti-democratic conspiracy?
Despite my known attitude to Mazrui I have a sneaking love for his audacity, as well as respect for the fact that he has always carried a Kenyan passport. But is it not time he came home and spent his remaining years on some tangible research activity on Kenyan society?
One area where he could help is to initiate an institute on Kenyan political bio-data. We need to know who James Gichuru, Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, Gikonyo Kiano, Oginga Odinga, Okik Amayo- and all the founding pioneers were. True, the lazy Kenyan historians and political scientist should have embarked on this project. Biographies help younger generations of thinkers and leaders to understand the inputs that went into the evolution of their society. Would that not be something worthwhile for the great professor to do at home, as he moulds the growth of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, of which he is the Chancellor?
I cannot promise that when he begins to work here, at home, I will be able to understand him. But, at least, he will have made some memorable contribution to his motherland. Ali Mazrui has spent his life educating the world. Why not come home and summarise all that effort, as he sips his gin and tonic, sitting on one of the benches in Fort Jesus!
Ali, home will always be home.
Prof Ochieng is a former permanent secretary in the Office of the President
I know he will respond by claiming that it is not his fault. If I am too dense to understand his writing then what has that got to do with him?
But apparently his American hosts also have a problem with him. Despite his many lectures and literature in the United States they do not seem to understand what he says, or wants. Are they also as dense as I am? What exactly has professor Mazrui been trotting around the world telling his listeners?
Late last August the itinerant Kenyan professor was detained at the Miami International Airport, in the United States, for more than six hours, as he jetted into his adopted homeland from Trinidad. And why? " Because of a breakdown in communication" between him and the US immigration and customs officials. The officials questioned Mazrui separately, to explain, among other things, his Islamic views. Their questions included: " What is Jihad? " Do you believe in it? "
Then they wanted to know what sect of Islam he believed in. When he told them Sunni, they asked why he was not Shia. According to Mazrui "That was definitely a first. That is like asking a Catholic why he isn't a Protestant." They then asked him whether he had met with a radical Islamist leader in Trinidad. He told them no, but added it was his business to know about Muslims because that is what he taught.
Professor Mazrui has lived and worked in the United States since early nineteen seventies, when he defected from Uganda due to Presidents Idi Amin's murderous brutality. Aged seventy, and professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton, Mazrui is also the Albert Schweitzer Professor in humanities, Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at SUNY- Binghamton, as well as Professor at Cornell University.
With that kind of Vitae, and given that America would stock special data on such an important luminary, was it a mistake that the American Immigration and Customs officers pounced on him on what appears to be minor details?
After this interrogation the officials apologised for keeping him so long, and gave him 25 dollars for dinner, paid for a hotel room and booked him on a flight the next morning.
But what was Ali thinking about that night? That his detention was a mistake? That these were ignorant officials? Are his American hosts already bored with him? Has he misused the wide American democratic space by discussing Western heresies? Or is America changing into a vast anti-democratic conspiracy?
Despite my known attitude to Mazrui I have a sneaking love for his audacity, as well as respect for the fact that he has always carried a Kenyan passport. But is it not time he came home and spent his remaining years on some tangible research activity on Kenyan society?
One area where he could help is to initiate an institute on Kenyan political bio-data. We need to know who James Gichuru, Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, Gikonyo Kiano, Oginga Odinga, Okik Amayo- and all the founding pioneers were. True, the lazy Kenyan historians and political scientist should have embarked on this project. Biographies help younger generations of thinkers and leaders to understand the inputs that went into the evolution of their society. Would that not be something worthwhile for the great professor to do at home, as he moulds the growth of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, of which he is the Chancellor?
I cannot promise that when he begins to work here, at home, I will be able to understand him. But, at least, he will have made some memorable contribution to his motherland. Ali Mazrui has spent his life educating the world. Why not come home and summarise all that effort, as he sips his gin and tonic, sitting on one of the benches in Fort Jesus!
Ali, home will always be home.
Prof Ochieng is a former permanent secretary in the Office of the President
posted by mcGregory Gripen @ 10:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home